Apple says sorry for slowing down old iPhones and cuts cost of replacement batteries

"We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologise."

Tech giant Apple has apologised for slowing down the performance of older iPhones and promised to slash the cost of replacement batteries as one of a number of measures "to recognise their (customers') loyalty and to regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple’s intentions". Earlier this month, Apple admitted deliberately slowing down the processing power of iPhones with older batteries using iOS updates, doing so, Apple said, "to protect its electronic components" in order to make the devices last longer as batteries age and become less potent. Apple initially took those steps without informing consumers and as more and more iPhone users began to report performance issues, Apple was hit with at least eight separate class-action lawsuits in the US. In a statement on Thursday, Apple apologised for the performance issues affecting some customers and sought to clarify the situation, saying "we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades". "About a year ago in iOS 10.2.1, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE," the statement read. "With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance." Apple also attributed performance issues to "the continued chemical ageing of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices, many of which are still running on their original batteries". As a result, to address customers’ concerns, Apple has decided to slash the cost of replacement batteries by $50 (approximately €42) from $79 to $29 (€66 to €24) for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later model whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com. Apple will also be issuing an iOS software update with new features in early 2018 that will give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance. You can read the Apple statement in full here.